


I'd Love You Anywhere, Anytime

by NerdyChick321



Category: Helix
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-16 19:00:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyChick321/pseuds/NerdyChick321
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It’s like 3 AM and I’m exhausted and I can hear you raging next door about failing at putting Ikea furniture together so here I am helping you put it together and holy shit you’re cute." Saw this prompt by stardust-sketcher on Tumblr and immediately knew I needed to write this for Sergio/Anana! It's a college/university AU. I love AUs because it's like those characters would find each other and fall in love no matter what time, place, or setting they meet in. Thanks for reading and enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Currently, this is just a one-shot. I have some other ideas I may develop into further chapters, we'll see. So, if anyone speaks Brazilian Portuguese, I'm sorry if these translations are wrong! All I have at my disposal is Google translate lol. Here are what I'm intending the Portuguese phrases to be at least:
> 
> Foda-se este = fuck this  
> Que porra é essa = what the fuck
> 
> Alright, enjoy! Please let me know what you think! This is my first attempt at writing for Helix so I hope I did a good job with the characters. =)

     Sergio rubbed his tired eyes and blinked a few times, staring at the open book resting on the desk in front of him. No matter how hard he willed his eyes to focus on the words, he couldn’t get the ink to stop swimming on the page in front of him. _Too much coffee? Too little sleep? Probably both._ Gently tugging at the wires hanging from his ears, Sergio removed his earbuds and got up from the desk, dropping to the floor for a quick set of push ups. That usually woke him up enough to keep studying.

     A sudden crash startled Sergio and he paused mid-push up to listen. Muffled but still easily discernible through the thin dormatory walls, the noise was followed by a frustrated exclamation: “Dammit!”  A few more, quieter sounds could be heard but nothing else of interest so Sergio shrugged and finished off his push ups before returning to his place at the desk. One look at the open page told him the push ups hadn’t helped at all. He was still exhausted and still couldn’t focus. The clock read 1 AM. Sergio groaned.

    “Forget it, I’m going to sleep.” He mumbled to himself, slapping the biology textbook shut. The exam was in six hours and he’d been studying since before lunch. Luckily, it was his last final but the solid week of final exams preceding it had left him sorely sleep-deprived. Reaching to the back of his neck with both hands, he grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and pulled it off over his head in one smooth motion. Tossing it carelessly on a chair, he let himself fall onto his bed wearing just his favorite baggy gray sweatpants.

    “You’re gonna come through for me, right, lucky finals sweatpants?” Sergio questioned, reaching over to his bedside table to turn off the lamp and turn on his alarm clock. They hadn’t let him down so far in the past two years of college. “Holy shit, man, you need to go to sleep. You’re talking to your pants. Aaand now you’re talking to yourself. Shut up.” His voice died off as sleep swept in swiftly to claim him. Sergio wrapped himself up tightly in his dark green comforter. _Ah, this is nice. Well, except for that._ There was a steady stream of angry words coming through the wall, seemingly directed at a piece of furniture that wasn’t cooperating. Sergio vaguely wondered if that was really what he was hearing or if the sleep deprivation was finally making him hallucinate. It sounded like an awfully long and heated conversation to have with an inanimate object. _Then again, you were just talking to your pants. Yeah, but at least we didn’t argue. Well, now you’re arguing with yourself, genius. Shut up and go to sleep._

    

    A loud thud jolted Sergio awake and he glared through the dark at the wall from which the endless noises were emanating. Casting his scowl upon the clock, he groaned and pulled the blanket up over his head, holding it over his ears. It was almost 3 AM and, exhausted as he was, this was the seventh time he’d been woken up by loud noises and various curses shouted from next door. The blanket around his ears had done nothing to help, In fact, he could now very clearly hear a woman’s voice raging on as her volume increased.

    “You stupid piece of shit coffee table just WORK! Why won’t you work? I have followed these dumbass instructions, which don’t make ANY sense by the way, to the letter. We have started over five times and yet still there are not enough fucking screws?!” Her voice was a mixture of anger and pleading. “It’s definitely not my fault by now so it must be you.”

    “She’s trying to reason with a coffee table…” Sergio mumbled to himself in disbelief before rolling over grumpily and closing his eyes, determined to go back to sleep. The woman had stopped talking for the time being, the noises dulling to small thuds and sleep didn’t take long to find him again.

 

    “Holy shit you cannot be fucking serious!” The woman’s voice had raised to an all out yell and Sergio awoke for an eighth time, a scowl already on his face. “Now I have too many screws?! And you’re so wobbly. What the hell is wrong with you?”

    “ _Foda-se este_ ,” Sergio grumbled, making a snap decision and throwing off his comforter roughly, “I’ll put the damn thing together myself.” Muttering complaints and curses under his breath in Portuguese, he fumbled for his cast off t-shirt in the dark, pulling it over his head as he strode quickly to the door, guided only by the light from his phone screen. He could still hear the woman’s voice clearly chewing the coffee table out as he exited his dorm and entered the hallway. Her voice cut off abruptly when he pounded loudly on her door with his fist, not caring that it was probably more forceful than necessary. All was quiet. He heard shuffling then the door opened revealing the owner of the voice. She stood in red plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt with their college logo on it, one hand on the door and the other braced on her hip, a slight scowl on her face. Long, arrow-straight, dark brown hair fell below her shoulders and her brown eyes locked with his green ones immediately, her gaze piercing.

    “Yes?” She said expectantly. The tilted coffee table collapsed behind her noisily. Her jaw clenched tightly and she inhaled sharply, eyes closing briefly as if it’s breakdown pained her physically. For a moment, Sergio just stared at her blankly, almost forgetting why he was there. _Holy shit she’s gorgeous._ He found the fire in her eyes appealing.

    “Well, I live next door,” he replied, the honestly scathing speech he had concocted in his head on the way over dying on his lips, replaced by a twinkle in his deep green eyes and a slightly playful tone, “And I was hoping to get even just a few minutes of sleep tonight at least but it sounds like your shelf or whatever is winning the argument you two have been having all night so I thought I would come over and help. Seems like it’d be quicker that way. And quieter.” The corner of Sergio’s mouth pulled up into a smirk.

    The woman blinked, her eyebrows rising slowly as he spoke, the scowl gone from her face, replaced by slight surprise. She seemed to be sizing him up for a moment.

    “Ok, have at it,” She said finally, sighing in resignation and stepping aside to let him in, “But don’t get your hopes up, something’s definitely wrong with this thing. I’m taking it back to the store tomorrow.” Sergio noticed how she eyed him warily and kept her distance as he stepped in. _Relax, I’m not gonna do anything to you. I’m too tired._ He grinned at his own joke as he walked over to the offending piece of unconstructed furniture.

    “I was thinking maybe I could start by yelling at it and, if that didn’t work, maybe try insulting it’s mother?” Sergio said in a deadly serious voice, crossing his arms and looking sternly down upon the pile of coffee table parts. His humor was rewarded with laughter from the woman and he brought his gaze up to her with a big smile. She seemed to be relaxing a bit, convinced for the time that he meant her no harm.

    “Well, that’s one strategy I haven’t tried yet,” She smiled back, tucking her hair behind her ears, “I mean, the insulting it’s mother bit, not the yelling. I’m really sorry about that, by the way, I guess I got carried away.” Her cheeks reddened slightly.

    “Eh, don’t worry about it, who really needs sleep anyway,” Sergio waved a hand dismissively while a voice in the back of his head chastised him. _Who needs sleep?! You need sleep you idiot, don’t forget your test. Put the table together and go. But damn, she's cute._ He settled down on the floor next to the ruins of the coffee table, skeptically examining the mess. He could practically feel the woman’s intense gaze follow him.

    “I’m Anana, by the way,” She said, sitting down on the edge of the couch across from him, resting her elbows on her knees as she leaned in to watch him work.

    “Sergio,” He introduced himself with a charming smile, “Do you have the instructions for this thing, Anana?” He gestured to the table, liking the way her name felt as it rolled easily off his tongue.

    “Yeah, here they are,” She quickly handed him the paper and pointed to the floor next to him, “And there’s a screwdriver right next to you.”

    “Alright you bastard,” Sergio addressed the coffee table, “Do your worst.”

 

    “ _Que porra é essa_?!” Sergio groaned, shaking the assembly instructions in frustration. He was an engineering major for crying out loud but this was his second time totally starting over with the coffee table and it still eluded him.

    “Right?!” Anana was now kneeling next to him as they struggled to interpret the exceptionally vague and non-helpful instructions. “Also, your Spanish is horrible.” She added the last bit with a self-satisfied smirk.

    “That’s because it’s not Spanish,” He replied, throwing a grin her way as he slapped the instructions down and ran a hand through his tousled brown hair, “It’s Portuguese. I grew up in Brazil.”

    “See, horrible Spanish,” She grinned back at him. Sergio elbowed her gently in playful retaliation.

    “Look, don’t even bother,” Anana put a hand on his arm to stop him as Sergio started to deconstruct the coffee table once again, “I’ll just go back to using a cardboard box like before, it’s not worth it. I’m going to go demand a refund for this piece of crap in the morning.”

    “I can go with you, if you want,” Sergio commented quickly, trying to act casual although he desperately hoped she’d agree. Despite his desire to be angry with the person responsible for waking him up all night, she’d been growing on him all night. “You know, to vouch for the incredible inadequacies of their product.”

    “I think that would be best,” Anana agreed, a smile on her face. He noted a slight color appearing on her cheeks and couldn’t keep from grinning.

    “I’ll be free after my test. Oh, shit, my test! What time is it?” Sergio remembered his early morning test all of a sudden, glancing around for his phone as he hopped up from his place on the floor.

    “You have a test in the morning?!” Anana got to her feet as well, handing him his phone she’d picked up from under the coffee table instructions after checking the time. “It’s almost 5 AM. When is your test?”

    “Seven,” Sergio said miserably, shaking his head with a mirthless laugh.

    “Crap, I am so incredibly sorry!” Anana looked absolutely horrified. “I kept you up all night making noise and then working on this damn coffee table!”

    “It’s ok,” He said with a sigh. “I’ve taken tests on no sleep before, it won’t stop me now.” She still looked mortified.

    “I feel terrible. You should go right now and go straight to sleep,” She took his arm and almost dragged him to the door. “Not that I want to get rid of you, I really enjoyed meeting you.” She added hastily, looking up at him as she opened the door. Their eyes met and he became suddenly aware of how close she stood to him. Staring back into her brown eyes, Sergio fought against an intense urge to kiss her. _Ah, no time_. Making a mental note to come back to that later, he instead flashed a charming smile.

    “Me too.”

    “Good luck on your test and I’ll buy you coffee tomorrow, ok? Thanks for coming to help me, Sergio.”

    “Anytime! If you ever need something, just shout, the walls are thin.” Sergio smirked, walking backwards towards his own door as he waved at her.

    “I will.” Anana laughed, leaning against her doorframe and waving back. “Now go to sleep.”

    Back in his own dorm room, Sergio got into bed for the second time that night, unable to shake the small grin that remained on his face. He laid still, not feeling the least bit like he could go back to sleep as he thought about Anana. _Damn, I hope she’s single_. Although his excitement about seeing her again tomorrow buzzed about his brain, the serious lack of sleep he’d accumulated the last week wouldn’t be that easily overcome and Sergio drifted off to sleep in minutes. Not so much as a pin drop could be heard on the other side of the wall. 


	2. Don't Drink When I'm Not Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Got the idea for this one from the Helix-TFLN blog on Tumblr (which I totally recommend following, by the way, it's hilarious!): "Anana - You don’t understand this isn’t a sit at a sports bar eating wings and having a beer night. This is a show up to the bar with a fifth of Jack and just let what happens happen kinda night. I’m expecting to smack a bouncer. Sergio - Ok let me change into clothes I can run in." It's the same college AU setting as the previous chapter. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so fun to write so I hope you guys have as much fun readying it as I did writing it! Here are my Google translate translations for the Portuguese used in this chapter:
> 
> Meu Deus - My God  
> Que Diabos - What the hell
> 
> I appreciate feedback! Feel free to leave a comment. Enjoy! =)

     Sergio ran a hand over his face and let out his held breath in a sigh of relief, pushing his laptop off his knees and leaning back against the pillows in his bed. _Passed everything!_  It had been a tense week since finals ended while everyone waited for their results to post. He’d been sitting in bed all afternoon on his laptop checking for his grades every few minutes. Of course, most of the students had gotten to wait it out with their families at least, having already gone home for the break. There was hardly anyone left except for him. _Probably why it’s so quiet_. Sergio grinned to himself remembering how at midterms the whole campus had seemingly exploded in a cacophony of noise, some excited and some despondent, as soon as grades had posted.

     _Well, not too quiet_. As if on cue, a loud, long groan from the other side of the wall interrupted the silence. Anana was also staying on campus over the break. Her family lived too far away for her to go home. He had simply nodded agreement when she’d asked if Brazil was too far for him to go home for break too. It got complicated explaining that there really wasn’t anyone to go home to so what was the point. Besides, he’d only known her for a week. _A great week_.

    Sergio closed his laptop and climbed out of bed to return it to it’s place on his desk. They’d spent at least a few hours every day together, keeping each other company while everyone else packed up and went home. He’d been enjoying himself more than he had in a long time. She was funny, smart, and had a spitfire temper he absolutely adored. She packed a pretty good punch too, something he’d learned the hard way when his friendly teasing got a rise out of her, which tended to happen fairly often. He just couldn’t resist; she made it so easy sometimes.

    “Better go check on her,” Sergio shrugged on a jacket, still hearing the despairing groans and curses coming from her room. He crossed the short distance between their doors in the hallway and rapped his knuckles a few times on her door.

    “It’s open!” Anana shouted.

    “You really shouldn’t leave your door unlocked,” Sergio commented, coming in with a grin already on his face, “Anyone could just walk in and murder you.”

    “Ugh, I wish,” Anana answered from where she lay on the floor, face down in a pillow.

    “Are you ok? Did you see grades are up?” Sergio frowned slightly, looking down at her sprawled on the floor.

    “Yes, I saw.” She rolled over, staring up at him, defeat in her voice. “Why do you think I’m lying on the floor trying to suffocate myself with this pillow, idiot?”

    “Hey, I don’t know what you’re into,” Sergio shrugged with a smirk, sitting down next to her. “Is it that bad?” He gestured to her laptop, open to the school’s student website.

    “I failed organic chemistry. I’m going to have to retake it next semester.” She threw an arm over her eyes dramatically as she sighed.

    “Man, that sucks,” Sergio said sincerely, glancing at the computer screen. She had A’s and B’s in everything but had just fallen short in the one class.

   “Yes, it fucking sucks, Captain Obvious.” Anana snapped. “Ok, I’m sorry, I’m being an asshole.” She apologized, moving her arm from her face to look at him.

    “It’s ok,” Sergio said with a small laugh. “You can beat me up if it’ll make you feel better. I won’t even defend myself.”

    “Aw, that’s so sweet.” She grinned sarcastically. “But I’ll let you live for now. I just need a drink. Or ten.”

    “Well let’s go. There’s a sports bar within walking distance that makes the best chicken wings I’ve ever had.”

    “I know the place you’re talking about,” Anana sat up, her interest clearly piqued, “But you don’t understand. This isn’t a sit at the sports bar eating wings and having a beer night. This is a show up to the bar with a fifth of Jack and just let what happens happen kind of night. I’m fully expecting to get thrown out and punch a bouncer before we’re through.” She got to her feet excitedly. “You in?”

    “Ok,” Sergio agreed with a big smile, getting to his feet as well. “Let me go change into clothes I can run in.”

    “That’s the spirit!” Anana laughed, smacking him excitedly on the chest. “Let me just get this party started real quick and we can go.” She had two tequila shots poured in what must have been some kind of record. She extended one to him.

    “I don’t know if I should really be pre-gaming for this,” Sergio said, “Someone’s gonna have to look after your drunk ass.”

    “Weak.” Anana teased, shaking her head at him with a smirk. She tossed both the shots back in quick succession. “More for me. Ok, let’s go.”

     _Meu Deus, what have I gotten myself into?_ Sergio grinned hugely even as a twinge of concern blossomed on the edge of his consciousness. Anana pulled him out the door and into the twilight like a hurricane. _This is gonna be fun._

 

    “This is SO good!” Anana shouted, pointing emphatically at her cocktail. Her face was way closer to his than was necessary to be heard above the din of loud music and people having a good time. Turns out drunk Anana was an extremely close talker and a little bit touchy, neither of which was bothering Sergio in the slightest. “Here, try it!” She picked her glass up and brought it to his lips swiftly, giggling as she tried to feed him her drink.

    “Hey, let me at least hold the glass!” Sergio laughed, trying to steady the drink in her hand while she continued trying to pour it in his mouth as he spoke. “You’re splashing it on me!” This just made her laugh more although she did let him take the glass out of her hand. Sergio grinned, wiping the spilled pineapple juice and coconut rum off his face and neck with a napkin. He’d lost track of how long they’d been at the bar but he was having a fantastic time. He’d been pacing himself so he was still pretty much with it although he had a good buzz going. Anana, on the other hand, had hit the bar with a vengeance and was totally trashed.

    “Aw, poor Sergio!” She tried to look very serious, but did a poor job of it. “Let me help you.” She took the napkin from him and reached to wipe his face with it, trying hard not to laugh and maintain her sorrowful look, but leaned too far forward and lost her balance, slipping off the tall bar stool.

    “Whoa!!” She exclaimed, miraculously landing on her feet, mostly thanks to Sergio grabbing her arms and holding her up. “What just happened?”

    “You ok?” Sergio couldn’t help but laugh.

    “Yeah, but did you feel that? The room just moved!” Anana looked startled.

    “The room didn’t move, you fell.”

    “What? No, I didn’t. That’s stupid.” She pressed a finger firmly to his lips to silence him when he tried to argue. “Shhh, I love this song!” Anana put her arms in the air and began to enthusiastically dance in the limited space between their two bar stools. Sergio looked on in amusement at her slightly awkward, somewhat disjointed movements.

    “Oh my God, you’re a terrible dancer,” He cracked up, earning a fierce glare from the woman.

    “Excuse you!” She stopped dancing abruptly, dizziness catching up with her. She reached out to steady herself, grabbing Sergio’s outstretched arms as he’d seen her starting to list to the side. The glare she’d locked on him dissipated and she looked down to her hands as they made contact with his biceps. Sergio tried to stifle a chuckle as she squeezed the muscles in his arms. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t subtly flex a little.

    “Damn,” Anana said the word quietly but he could read it on her lips. As if suddenly realizing she wasn’t being inconspicuous, Anana loosened her grip on his arms and fixed her glare back on him.

    “Enjoying yourself?” Sergio smirked.

    “Shut up!” Color crept into her cheeks as she broke eye contact, grabbing her drink from the counter. “I want to go dance, come with me.”

    “I don’t know if I can quite match up to your immense skill,” He said sarcastically, finishing his drink in one swig and sliding off the bar stool to follow her to the dance floor.

    “First of all, I am a _phenomenal dancer_ ,” Anana turned on him, punching his arm in return for his sarcastic comment. “Secondly, you’re Brazilian, I’m sure you’re good with your hips, don’t try to tell me you can’t dance.”

    “Oh?” Sergio laughed delightedly as her eyes widened and the color on her cheeks deepened, realizing what she’d said.

    “Shut up!”

    “I didn’t even say anything!”

    “You know what I meant!”

    “I just didn’t realize you were such an expert on my hips.” Sergio teased.

    “I’m going to kill you.”

    “Alright, that’s fine, but first…” Sergio paused for just a second. _Ah, que diabos, go for it_. “Let me teach you to dance.” With this, he reached out, placing his hands on Anana’s hips and pulling her into him with a wicked grin. Surprise on her face, Anana looked up to meet his gaze, slightly stiff against him. Both her hands clutched her drink tightly against her chest.

    “You dumbass,” Anana spoke after a few seconds, the surprise melting from her features as she relaxed into him, “People don’t dance like this in clubs.” But she made no move to pull away from him as she bent her head to take a drink, one hand moving to rest with feather-like lightness on his chest.

    “You’re right, my bad.” Sergio smirked. “Guess my Brazilian hips don’t know that much about dancing after all.” Still, he didn’t let go of her either.

    “Would you get me another of these?” Anana asked, her words slurring slightly as she held up her empty glass, almost hitting him in the face with it.

    “Of course,” He laughed, reluctantly releasing her to take her glass and head back to the bar, “But I’m going to have to cut you off soon. I don’t wanna have to carry your ass home.”

    “As if, I’ve barely had anything to drink. I am so far from being Sergio, drunk.” Anana protested, hands on her hips defiantly and swaying unintentionally. “Wait, no, I mean I’m not sober, Sergio.” She seemed to consider her words for a moment. “Wait a minute…”

    “It’s ok,” Sergio laughed, giving her a conspiratorial nod and wink. “I know what you mean.”

    While waiting for her drink, Sergio turned to face the crowd of people on the dance floor, leaning back on the bar with his elbows. It didn’t take him long to find Anana in the horde, laughing softly to himself as he noticed she’d gone back to her slightly awkward dancing. He wondered if it was the alcohol or if she was always such a crappy dancer. Taking Anana’s drink, he carefully navigated his way through the throng back to where he had left her.

    As he got closer, he frowned, noticing a man had approached her. The man kept trying to put a hand on her arm or her waist but Anana kept smacking him away. She looked annoyed and was clearly shouting something at him but the words didn’t quite reach Sergio’s ears through the loud music.

    “No, I don’t want to dance with you so quit touching me and leave me alone!” Anana faced the man squarely, a scowl on her face. For someone so small, she looked pretty intimidating but the man continued trying to move closer to her.

    “Come on, princess, we’ll have a good time, I promise.” He reached for her waist again but Sergio caught the man’s wrist.

    “Hey, asshole, she said no so fuck off.” Sergio handed Anana her drink, placing himself between her and the man.

    “Chill out, man. She’s cool with it.” The man said dismissively, annoyance on his face at the interruption.

   “I am not! I told you to get lost like five fucking times, dick!” Anana said angrily, stepping out from behind Sergio.

    “You’re a feisty one, eh? I like my girls with a little fight in ‘em. I got plans for the dirty mouth of yours later, sweetheart.” The man winked at Anana.

    “You bastard!” Anana tightened her fingers into a fist, lunging towards the man but Sergio beat her to it, sending the offender spinning to the floor with one lightning fast uppercut. Restraint had never been one of his strengths and the alcohol wasn’t helping to calm the fire in his blood either.

    Sergio grabbed the man roughly by the collar, pulling him to his feet and just enough higher so the man had to stand uncomfortably on his tiptoes.

    “Apologize to her.” Sergio nodded towards Anana.

    “What the fuck, dude?” The man glared at Sergio. “Don’t take it so personal. This bitch is so drunk she won’t even remember any of this in the morning, I was just trying to have some fun.”

    “You wanna get hit again?” Sergio released the man’s collar, taking a menacing step forward. “Apologize to her.”

    Grumbling and straightening his shirt, the man turned to slink away. Whipping back around, the man snatched a beer bottle from someone’s hand and smashed it against Sergio’s temple, following it quickly with a right hook. The punch never landed. Sergio caught the man’s hand, even as he staggered back a few steps, seeing stars from the impact of the bottle. With one swift motion, he had the man’s arm twisted behind his back, applying pressure in just the right place to bring the man to his knees with a pained cry.

    By this point, the crowd had all backed away from the commotion leaving the three of them standing alone in the center of the dance floor. Before the scuffle could escalate further, several bouncers swooped in, pulling Sergio and the man apart.

    “Alright, alright, that’s enough. Party’s over, you’re all out.” One of the bouncers said with a no-nonsense tone. “Are you with these men?” He asked Anana.

    “I’m with him,” Anana took Sergio’s arm possessively and glared over at the other man from the fight, taking a large swig from her glass, “And that bastard is a fucking creep!” Her voice rose quickly to a shout.

    “Ok, I see, calm down, you can shout about it outside,” The bouncer sternly ushered them out, turning to speak to his partner. “You’d better take him out the other way.” The other bouncer nodded and took the man firmly by the arm, dragging him off out of sight to another exit.

    “I don’t care where you go or what you do but you’re not coming back in here tonight, you got it?” The bouncer crossed his arms as he left Sergio and Anana on the sidewalk outside the club.

     “Well, you got what you wanted, right?” Sergio smirked down at Anana in the dark as they turned to walk away.

     “What’s that?” Anana sounded confused.

     “You got kicked out of the bar.”

     “Oh, that’s right!” She remembered with a laugh. “There’s still one more thing I gotta do though.” Sergio gave her a quizzical look as she let go of his arm and backed away slowly. Realization hit him as he remembered the rest of what she’d said in her dorm before going out.

     “Anana, no!” He cautioned even as he grinned. He reached out to stop her but she laughed defiantly and bolted out of reach, surprisingly fast and agile for someone who’d had as much to drink as she had that night. Anana ran right up to the bouncer who barely had time to look up before she had punched him firmly in the gut.

     “Run!” She shouted to Sergio, laughing madly as she took off down the street. He ran right alongside her although he doubted the bouncer was going to chase them. Illuminated in the glow from the club’s entryway the bouncer appeared mostly annoyed and confused. Built like a tank, the punch hadn’t seemed to really hurt him much anyway.

    They ran the thankfully short distance back to the dorms on campus, both thoroughly out of breath between sprinting and laughing so hard. They didn’t stop until they reached the covered walkway their rooms opened up to. Sergio was ahead of Anana, running right up to the brick wall and turning to lean against it as he waited for her. She was mere seconds behind him and tripped on her own feet, crashing right into him, still laughing. He wrapped his arms around her with a grin and an exaggerated groan as she nearly knocked the air out of him. Without warning, Anana stood up on tiptoe, placing her hands softly on his cheeks, and kissed him deeply.

    Surprise froze him for barely a second before Sergio responded with passion and pulled her into a deeper embrace. He could have sworn his heart completely stopped and didn’t beat even once the entire time they kissed. It was over far too quickly. Anana pulled away, leaving both of them breathless. She slowly, hesitantly, looked up to make eye contact. He couldn’t quite decipher the look in her eyes. She looked almost as though she were searching for something on his face. A frown marred her features as she took her hands from his face, focusing on a point on his forehead.

    “You’re bleeding.” She said, her voice a whisper.

    “Huh?” It was all he could manage.

    “Your head is bleeding.”

   “Oh,” Sergio reached up to explore delicately with his fingertips, wincing when he found the spot on his temple that was oozing hot, sticky blood. “Must be from the bottle he hit me with.”

    “Come on, let me fix that for you,” Anana took his sleeve and gently tugged him towards the stairs to the second level. He followed her wordlessly, watching her carefully as she swayed a bit on the stairs, ready to catch her if she stumbled. He really didn’t know how she ran all the way back without wiping out. _Did she mean it?_ The feel of her lips on his lingered like a ghost. He wasn’t sure how in control of her actions she was at the moment. Was it the alcohol talking or maybe, just maybe, did she like him too? _Don’t get excited, probably just the liquor._

    Unlocking her apartment, Anana pointed to the sofa for him to sit while she opened a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out some supplies.

     “Thank you, by the way,” Anana sat next to him on the sofa, critically inspecting the cut on his face.

     “Hmm?” Sergio stared at his hands, acutely aware of her closeness.

     “For going out with me. And for punching that guy.”

     “No problem, he was a real dick.” Sergio hissed as the cut stung sharply from her cleaning it.

     “Don’t be a baby,” She smacked him lightly on the arm but he could feel her touch lighten as she put an antibiotic ointment on the cut and taped a bandage over it. Satisfied, she sat back to admire her handiwork.

    “Now that that’s taken care of,” She grinned diabolically, “Where were we?” She leaned forward, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him into another kiss.

    “Anana,” Sergio murmured, reluctantly breaking from the kiss, his better judgement catching up. “You’re drunk.” He looked at her almost apologetically.

    “I’m not drunk, you’re drunk.” Anana mumbled, blinking sleepily.

    “I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret in the morning.” Sergio sighed.

    “The only thing I’m gonna regret is not kissing you more,” Anana somehow made this statement sound threatening. She yawned, letting her head drop onto his shoulder as she curled up against him. “But I’m just gonna take a quick nap first, ok?”

    “Ok,” Sergio laughed lightly, grinning down at the top of her head. “Hey, don’t drink when I’m not around, ok? Well, at least not that much.”

    “Why?” She barely managed to get the word out, falling quickly into a deep sleep.

    “Because I was right. Somebody’s gotta look out for your drunk ass. You’re trouble. Getting kicked out of clubs, attacking bouncers…” He shook his head disapprovingly. Anana mumbled something unintelligible though it sounded like an insult. She swung an arm at him, in an attempt at a punch, but it just fell limply to rest on his chest.

    Sergio laid his head back, smiling up at the ceiling, feeling his own eyelids getting heavy. He chuckled softly as Anana started to snore. _I wonder how much of this she’ll remember in the morning…_


End file.
